Test your music knowledge with Jim Shearer on ’70s ’80s ’90s NOW

We’ve all been there, sitting at the bar with friends when an obscure song comes on the jukebox. There’s always that one person who starts spewing every detail about the track and boasting their prowess as a musical encyclopedia. Some of us are that friend. And on SiriusXM’s new channel VOLUME, that’s perfectly OK.

On ’70s ’80s ’90s NOW, that useless knowledge has real value. The game show, hosted by former MTV and VH1 VJ and music-trivia junkie Jim Shearer, tests your musical IQ with brain-bending trivia and obscure “Name That Tune” challenges straight from the depths of popular music’s last five decades.

Jim Shearer on ’70s ’80s ’90s NOW

“The great thing about this show is that you can be strong in the ’70s, not necessarily in the ’80s or ’90s, and you can run the table,” Shearer says. “And if you’re a millennial, you could take out someone who is into Zeppelin and The Who. So you just have to be strong in your decade of choice.”

Shearer lived out his teenage dream when he became a VJ for MTV Networks before becoming the host and writer of VH1’s Top 20 Video Countdown. Talking about the launch of VOLUME, he can’t hide his excitement to be fulfilling another lifelong ambition.

“It has always been a dream of mine to host a game show, so it seems perfect: host a game show, talk about music,” he says. “And then we get to bring people that are experts in their decade of choice, they get to talk ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and now. I have always been a fan of all music, so I’m glad that I get to chop it up with people from four different decades.”

The game show will consist of four rounds with a competitor being eliminated after each round until one reigns supreme in what Shearer dubs “the ultimate battle of the decades.” Along with listeners competing, Shearer hopes to pit musicians and authorities against each other. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll get Paul McCartney and Madonna to go at each other at some point.”

Thinking of throwing your hat into the ring? Jim Shearer has some advice for you.

“The thought of knowing four decades is overwhelming. So I stop you and say, ‘Shh, you just need to be strong in one decade.’ Mine would probably be the ’90s,” Jim Shearer says. “But, I’m strong in the ‘NOW,’ too, and the ’80s. Pick your strongest decade, and bone up on that. Most of it is going to be the stuff that rose to the top: the Alternative Rock, the hip-hop, the country that you think of when that decade comes to mind. Be strong with that and I think you’re good to go.”

Time to study up! New episodes of ’70s ’80s ’90s NOW air Tuesdays at 1pm ET on VOLUME, Ch. 106.